Paleo for the average Jane

Curry cauliflower “cous cous” salad with chicken

Boy, that title doesn’t do this tasty little salad justice. I was craving an easy filling salad, since I’ve been a bit under the weather lately with my chronic BS. I needed something easy, and no fuss to just throw in a bowl and eat, and this was PERFECT. The most pain in the ass part about it was the coconut milk (Which can certainly be swapped with Greek yogurt, if desired.) which I had to drain extensively. Try this! It’s easy, and genuinely really delicious.

The Ingredients:

– 1.5 cans coconut milk. NOW: I usually use the Thai Kitchens full fat milk. The store was 100% OUT OF THEM when I went. If you are using that brand, you can just stick them in the fridge overnight, and then open them upside down, and drain the water. This will leave you with a nice thick creamy coconut paste. Perfect. If you stick your coconut milk in the fridge and it never thickens, a) bummah. b) line a couple colanders with coffee filters, and put a bowl under them. Then, split the milk between the two colanders, and let them drain for several hours. Combine the solids left, and strain them in a new coffee filter, over night. This should get rid of as much of the extra water as possible. We are replacing that water with flavor, so don’t skip this step!

– Juice of 3 lemons

– 1 TBS Curry powder

– 1/2 tsp cumin

– 1/4 tsp cardamom

– 1/4 tsp cinnamon

– 1 TBS honey

– 1/4 tsp sriracha

– Oil (I used avocado oil… use whatever makes your skirt fly up)

– 4 large cloves of garlic chopped

– 1 head of cauliflower, riced

– 2 cucumbers, chopped up

– 4 or 5 carrots, chopped up

– large handful of cashews, chopped

– couple large handfuls of raisins

– a large pile of shredded chicken (use leftovers, or whatever is on sale… I have a mix of dark and light meat here, but any chicken will work!)

The veggies can certainly be adjusted. Use whatever! Play around with it. I like a lot of raisins, so I added a lot. Less could be used, or more. Same with the nuts… whatever makes ya happy.

Cut the lemons in half, and juice them into the coconut solids. FLAVOR!!!

Look at all that lemon juice! It’s going to look like a lot, but it’s just right. Give it a good stir.

To the lemon and coconut mixture, add a tablespoon of curry powder…

A half teaspoon of cumin…

A quarter teaspoon of cardamom…

A quarter teaspoon cinnamon…

A tablespoon of honey…

And a quarter teaspoon of sriracha. Mix the whole mess together.

Add salt and pepper, and taste it. I thought this mixture was perfect for me, but everyone likes something different. Adjust the spices to personal preferences. Dressing is done!! WEEEEE!

Dump some oil into the pan, and then throw the garlic in. Let it get all toasty and tasty.

Toss the cauliflower rice into the pan, add a some salt, and keep stirring it around while it cooks.

Keep cooking the cauliflower until it is just tender. It should still have some texture to it though, so don’t overcook it! Once it’s done, take it off the heat, and throw the cauliflower into a big honkin’ bowl, and move it around a bit to cook it off some.

Once the cauliflower is cooled off a bit, add the cucumbers, carrots, cashews, raisins, and chicken to the rice and mix the whole thing together.

Add the dressing to the salad, and mix the whole thing together. Really work that dressing in. The cauliflower should still be at least a little warm, and will absorb all the delicious flavors. The whole thing is delicious, and filling, and best of all, easy. It can be thrown into a Tupperware and taken out and about. Enjoy!!